Year
1990
Abstract
The safe packaging and transportation of uranium hexafluoride was the subject of a nuclearindustry- wide Conference held in November 1989 at the United States Department of Energy's (DOE) Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant operated by Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc. The Conference, sponsored by Energy Systems and the DOE Portsmouth Enrichment Office focused on the exchange of technical ideas and discussions of issues related to the 21PF-1 UF6 cylinder overpack. This overpack holds a 30-inch diameter steel cylinder containing two and one-half tons of enriched uranium hexafluoride during shipment to domestic fuel fabricators and overseas customers. The overpacks are designed to withstand normal shipping conditions and hypothetical accidents without breach of containment. The most significant result of the Conference was the development of interim acceptance criteria for overpacks.